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2014 – An Odyssey

2014 has been a massive year for Pricewar Music and it’s hard to know where to begin. It was a year of signings, of events, of new people on board, of releases, of charts, of festivals and a whole heap of good friends and great support from great people for the artists we work with.

It was the year that on top of signing Sydonia and Ezekiel Ox and carrying on with StormChasers, it was the year that Collision Course PR and Underscore Agency really got cranking. That’s not to mention the leaps and bounds that El Grande Festival took in March with Dead Letter Circus headlining.

Sydonia had one of the most-loved heavy releases of 2014 in Australia, toured and played at Big Sound 2014 in Brisbane. They attracted the attention of some pretty heavy hitters in the industry from Australia and abroad and 2015 holds overseas plans for them as well as recording album number 3. For a band 15 years deep, they show no signs of slowing down. In fact, the mantra for the album is harder, faster.

Ezekiel Ox released what can only be described as some of the best and most provocative protest and revolution music (and is downright funky). He did the largest national tour that any of the Pricewar Music artists did in 2014 – 19 dates, all states and territories (except Tasmania) and thousands of kilometres. Zeke has amazing plans up his sleeve for 2015 including a full-length collaborative album and new plans for Over-Reactor.

StormChasers put out their vinyl and toured the EP and Remix version of the record and played amazing Festival Autumn Sounds alongside The Cat Empire, Bluejuice, John Steel Singers and more. At the end of 2014, they decided to put the project on indefinite pause as to see off Kat Sheppard on her open-ended trip to Europe. They capped off 3 years together with Pricewar Music with a massive free entry show at new-ish Brisbane venue The Woolly Mammoth on Friday 5th December. It’s been amazing working with StormChasers and if the project ever picks up again, Pricewar Music will be back working with them in an instant. For now, it’s Au Revoir and Big Love.

All in All this year was a defining year where we really ramped things up. Releases and tours from Sydonia, StormChasers, Forever the Optimist, Ezekiel Ox, Guards of May, Drawcard, Bound For Ruin, Jericco, The Short Fall, Miss Elm, Hailmary, As Paradise Falls, The Acfields, Pat Tierney, Tempest Rising, Pharaohs’ Playground, Mercury Sky and so, so many more.

El Grande Festival was a roaring success in Gladstone. Dead Letter Circus, HELM, Sietta, Drawcard, Guards of May, Ezekiel Ox, StormChasers, Dollarosa, Satellites, Red In Tooth, Bound For Ruin and so many more made the day very special and an almost sell out in a first time venue, with so many dramas leading in to it, including the venue being flooded not 24 hours before doors opened. Nathan Bedford and I could not have done it without the support of our partners Emma and Tara and also the help of so many of our friends and sponsors. We are once again heading into the trenches again and whoa, mama you should see what we have planned for next year.

September brought Big Sound along and Sydonia, Bound For Ruin and Darkc3ll were all selected to showcase – it was an epic few days and MANY a contact was made and potential business. Overseas trips in 2015 were made possible from Big Sound this year.

I was extremely lucky enough this year to be chosen to go along to The Seed – it was 4 life and business-changing days that I made some life-long friendships and had the massive honour of doing the “Thank You” to John and Danielle and Stacia and the rest of the crew for their help and time and love. More than a few tears shed.

November brought the G20 gigs that I had organised and we put on 2 fantastic shows – one at the New Globe Theatre – Sydonia, Young Lions, Bound For Ruin, Guards of May, Forever the Optimist, Drawcard, As Paradise Falls and Magenta Voyeur and the other at 38 Berwick St (their first show ever in the venue!) with Velociraptor, Double Lined Minority, Skadi, House of Giants and Backseat Killers. Both shows were huge and were fucking excellent. Thanks to both venues and all the bands.

The end of the year came with a signing of Guards of May and I could not be happier. The band has got a massive future ahead of them and their album to be released in 2015 is nothing short of amazing. We have a lot of work ahead of us in 2015, but it’s going to be crazy good.

2015 will see Collision Course PR partnering up with John Sankey (Devolved, Devil You Know) to help promote the heavy scene in Australia even more and also partnering on an online radio show for The AU Radio called “A Heavy Price to Pay”.

I would like to thank EK, Nick Price, Nathan Bedford, Andrew Kennedy, Troy Scott and all the venues and media that have supported us and our artists. It has been amazing. It’s also been a great year for all of the Last, but definitely not least – thank you to the artists we work with for being amazing, creatively and personally.